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Inkling now available for iPhone
Inkling is a popular virtual textbook publisher on the iPad, and it's recently expanded over to the web, allowing students to access their virtual textbooks from anywhere. Now, the company is adding one more platform to its repertoire: the iPhone. The Inkling app is now universal, which means you can browse, buy, and read textbooks from the iPad, the iPhone, or the iPod touch. I don't know how much this will add to Inkling's business. You have to think that most students do their work on a computer or an iPad rather than on the iPhone's relatively small screen. But then again, I've done quite a bit of reading on my phone while out and about, and maybe there's an audience for academic texts in the same way. If you're an Inkling user, you can update the app and enjoy the new version right now.
The most expensive internet in America: fighting to bring affordable broadband to American Samoa
"You could argue that there's some value in it." That's New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, speaking candidly during a recent interview at D10 in California. The topic of conversation? Widespread WiFi, and whether or not the government should be the one thinking about its future ubiquity. More specifically, if WiFi hotspots should be treated like "roads or water supply," as aptly stated by AllThingsD's Kara Swisher. This obviously isn't the first time such an idea has crossed the minds of those connected to Washington, D.C. Muni-Fi (municipal wireless networks) projects were all the rage a few years back, but one spectacular failure after another swiftly extinguished that momentum. In more modern times, America (as well as other nations) has sought to solve the "rural broadband" problem, bringing high(er)-speed internet connections to places with a higher bovine population than human. But bringing broadband to places like rural North Dakota seems like an easy chore to a small, but passionate, group of 60,000 sitting some 4,770 miles from San Diego, California. American Samoa may be an unincorporated US territory located closer to pure bliss than the hustle and bustle of Wall Street, but it's no doubt being taken into consideration in recent mapping projects aiming to pinpoint the areas most lacking in terms of digital infrastructure. Unbeknownst to most mainlanders, this fragile island chain is home to the most expensive internet in America, and the political issues surrounding it are astonishing. Head on past the break to learn more on what I discovered.
Google: Chromebooks now serve web-happy students in over 500 European, US school districts
Whatever you think of the latest round of Chromebooks, school districts have clearly latched on to existing models. Over 500 school districts across Europe and the US are currently deploying the Google-powered laptops for learning the web way. Specialized web app packs and that rare leasing model are already keeping the material relevant and the hardware evergreen, but new certification for US ready-for-college criteria will go a long way towards making sure principals everywhere take a shine to Chrome OS in the future. That still leaves a lot of schools going the more traditional Mac or Windows PC route, with the occasional tablet strategy thrown in; regardless, we're sure Google doesn't mind taking any noticeable chunk of the market in a relatively brief period of time. We'll see if there's more reasons for Mountain View to get excited in a few days.
Valve announces Steam for Schools, helps teachers create educational Portal 2 levels
Who ever said being a scientific guinea pig couldn't be educational? With Steam for Schools, teachers can now use Portal 2's level editor to create lessons focused on boosting critical thinking, spatial reasoning and problem solving skills. Announced at the Games for Change festival in New York City, the educator edition of Steam comes with a free copy of Portal 2 and the Portal 2 Puzzle Maker. Students and teachers alike can use the tools to create puzzles, but distribution is handled by teachers alone. (That's right, kids -- no level sharing unless the teach says so.) An accompanying website serves as a gathering place for teachers to collaborate, and aims to provide sample lesson plans centered on science, technology, engineering and math. If you're an educator who can't wait to bring a Portal-assisted physics lesson to life, see the links below to sign up for the ongoing beta. Now if you'll excuse us, we're off to "study."
Apple offers gift card deal for college students buying a new Mac or iPad
Apple has posted a new deal for college students looking to buy a new Mac or iPad. Those who buy a Mac between June 11 and September 21 will receive a gift card worth US$100 to spend on apps, books, music, and movies. Those who buy an iPad will receive a gift card worth $50. Qualifying students must be currently attending or accepted to a college. Parents shopping for a qualifying student may also take part in the deal, as well as faculty or staff.
1Mpad is Malaysia's first branded tablet, delivers 7 inches of Gingerbread for $315
So you've decided that it's time to make a tablet part of your life, but a lack of star-spangled slabs has prompted you to defer the purchase. Malaysians now face no such dilemma, due in no small part to the 1Malasyia Pad -- the country's first branded tab. The 1Mpad will reportedly soon be marketed to students (1.4 million of them, in fact), but 5,000 of the 7-inch Gingerbread devices are now being offered up to deep-pocketed locals, priced online at a rather-ambitious 999 Malaysian ringgits (about $315). Manufactured by MalTechPro Sdn Bhd, the 1Mpad will be offered to students at a to-be-determined discounted rate, making it the first such device to be available using a student discount card. At its current high list price, the tablet doesn't appear to be a fantastic deal, shipping with 3G broadband and the 1Malaysia Messenger application, which will serve as an IM service of sorts for sending text, pictures, video and voice recording to other 1Mpad owners. Still, if you have the cash to spare for an early taste of what Malaysian students may some day be using to surf the web, you can hit up the source link after the break for a bit more info. [Thanks, Joe]
Microsoft encourages students to buy a PC, gives them a free Xbox 360 in return
Students. PCs. Free Xbox 360. The Redmond team's at it yet again. Similar to last year's deal, Microsoft's hooking students up with a 4GB Xbox 360 if they drop some cash on one of its Windows machines. It's simple: shell out over $699 on a PC, or $599 if you're in Canada, and you'll be walking out with a shiny new console free of charge -- naturally, you'll have to do so at participating shops such as Best Buy, Fry's, Newegg, Staples, The Source and, of course, Microsoft's own stores. The promo is set to kick off here in the States on May 20th, while those living in the True North can take advantage of it starting today. And before you ask -- yes, you will need to show your scholar credentials to get in on the bargain.
ISS ready for new zero-g experiments, students asked to float ideas
Those secret space experiments you've been scheming? They may never happen if you try to go it alone. Fortunately, the space science group NCESSE can get you a ride, having started the countdown for its fifth wave of microgravity experiments aboard the International Space Station. US and international students from grade 5 up to university level can submit ideas until September 12th, 2012, with final culling by December 7. The mini-labs -- which can include experiments in seed germination or crystal growth, for example -- are set to be ferried aboard a SpaceX flight in April 2013. Three similar missions have flown nearly 60 student experiments already, with a fourth set as soon as the Falcon 9 craft deigns to go. If you've got a flat-out good idea being prevented by big G, hit the source to see how you could get it fired off to the ISS.
Harvard tired of overpaying for research, tells faculty to open up
The grand dame of Ivy League schools is taking action against one of higher learning's pet peeves: the exorbitant price of research journals. Even though the e-reader revolution may have already touched other schoolbooks, so far academic subscription prices -- with some journals as high as $40,000 -- are becoming unsustainable, according to Harvard. To that end, it's taking the lead and pushing its own faculty toward open access publishing, and encouraging them to quit boards of journals that aren't. That could in turn prod other schools to take the same steps, and allow Harvard to focus on more, ahem, interesting pursuits.
Apple to issue 150 student scholarships to attend WWDC 2012
Apple is looking to reward outstanding student developers with a trip to WWDC 2012. Full- or part-time students over the age of 13 may apply. Apple's decision will be based on the following: Technical ability Creativity of ideas expressed in products or projects Prior WWDC attendance Technical and work experience Participating students must also be a member of either the iOS Developer Program, iOS Developer University Program or Mac Developer Program, and provide proof of his/her enrollment in school. You'll find all the details here. Good luck!
Intel adds rugged Studybook tablet to its student-friendly Classmate lineup
File this under: "Wait, that didn't happen already?" Intel just announced the Studybook, that tablet you see up there, and believe it or not it's only the first slate to join the company's lineup of Classmate products for schools. That's sort of wild, given the popularity of tablets and also the fact that there are so many kid-proof models floating around. And yet, the closest Intel had come until now was with the Convertible Classmate PC, a device that was more of a netbook with a touchscreen. Like the rest of Intel's Classmate series, the Studybook is meant to find a home in schools here in the US and around the globe, including developing markets. And by most measures, this reference design is exactly the kind of product you would have expected Intel to cook up for such an audience. Starting with raw specs, you're looking at a 7-inch (1024 x 600), Atom-powered tablet that can be configured to run either Android or Windows 7, depending on the school district's needs. As you'd expect, it's been designed to take a beating from careless kids: the plastic, 525-gram (1.2-pound tablet) can withstand 70-centimeter (2.3-foot) drops and has a rubber band reinforcing the bezel to keep sand and other elements out. You'll also find rubber gasketing around the ports, which include USB 2.0, HDMI, a headphone jack and microSD / SIM slots. Though it comes standard with 1GB of RAM, the amount of built-in storage will vary from school to school: four to 32 gigs, or a 128GB SSD. Just as important as the specs is the software package, which includes Kno's e-reader app, as well as the LabCam suite, which lets you do things like attach a special lens (sold separately) to use that rear-facing 2-megapixel camera as a microscope. As for price, Intel is quick to emphasize it doesn't set the cost (that would be OEMs), but it believes manufacturers who use this design can sell the finished product for $200 or less. No word, then, on when this might show up in a classroom near you, but for now we've got hands-on photos below and a pair of walk-through videos just past the break.
Small survey finds school IT managers expecting iPads
The iPad may make further inroads into education, thanks to the popularity of the device among teens. According to a report in AllThingsD, investment firm Piper Jaffray surveyed 18 public school IT managers about their future tablet plans and discovered that 78 percent are testing iPads. Schools that adopt a "bring your own device" policy may also see a jump in the number of iPads being used as the tablet is popular among teens. "Ultimately we expect school 'bring your own device' policies paired with the popularity of iPads among teens will lead to the iPad owning the educational tablet market, " says Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster.
Student-friendly Lenovo ThinkPad X130e available now for $429
The last time we heard about the inexpensive and student-friendly ThinkPad X130e, it was being snatched up by the eager school districts. That move ultimately pushed back the rig's planned ship date, but fortunately Lenovo seems to have caught up with the demand for its rugged miniature. In case you need a mind refresh, the X130e is sporting an 11.6-inch HD LED display, 250GB for all your storage needs, four gigs of RAM and your choice of an AMD Fusion or i3 processor at its Core (see what we did there?), just to mention a few goodies. Those of you who've been counting the days to get your hands on the $429 entry-level ThinkPad can finally do so at the source link below. [Thanks, Andrew]
Lenovo teams up with National Academy Foundation, teaches high schoolers about app development
Lenovo's not just staying busy pumping out Android handsets and tablets, but now the Chinese manufacturer is teaming up with the National Academy Foundation to launch a mobile app development program for high school scholars in the States. The project is part of the NAF and Lenovo's "innovative curriculum," which hopes to induce knowledge in areas like science, technology, engineering and math. Once the dev program gets rolling, it'll be available at five schools within the NAF network, but the eventual plan is to bring the app-creating party to all of the foundation's 100 academies. As part of the venture, the ThinkPad creator also donated some of its own slates and all-in-ones to "aid the students and teachers implement the curriculum." Take a quick peek at the PR below to find out if you (or someone you love) are part of the lucky few.
What to expect from Apple's education event: Digital textbooks, 'GarageBand for ebooks'
The Wall Street Journal and Ars Technica have weighed in with information about Apple's upcoming education event. Both outlets cite the usual "people familiar with the matter" for their information, and their sources have generally given accurate info in the past. With those caveats out of the way, it's worth looking at what the WSJ and Ars have to say about Thursday's event. The Wall Street Journal confirms most of the past week's speculation and says Apple's education event will indeed focus on the launch of a new platform for digital textbooks. According to its sources, Apple has been working with textbook publishers on this new platform for quite some time; McGraw-Hill has been collaborating with Apple since at least June of 2011. Cengage Learning, a major player in textbooks for higher education, has worked with Apple in the past and will also attend the event. Reportedly the event will focus on a new type of digital textbook providing a greater degree of interactivity than has been offered in the past. The iPad is of course the perfect medium for consumption of such content, and the iTunes Store is a ready-made outlet for delivering that content. Apple has already provided all the tools for digital textbooks to get into the hands of teachers and students, with one exception: an easy way to create that digital content in the first place. Tools for creating ebooks from scratch or converting standard books into digital versions have traditionally been confusing to use, delivered inconsistent results, and haven't played well with anything more than basic multimedia integration. Speaking from my personal experience in trying to create a simple text-only ebook using iWork, I've longed for a simpler and more user-friendly tool; I can only imagine that textbook publishers have been clamoring for such a piece of software even more stridently. According to Ars Technica, Apple is set to deliver that final piece of the puzzle in crafting digital textbooks, which the site characterizes as sort of a "GarageBand for ebooks." Apple is expected to announce support for the EPUB 3 standard -- it currently supports EPUB 2 with some HTML5-based extensions to allow grafting of basic multimedia content onto ebooks. While this may render such ebooks incompatible with other ebook platforms (Kindle, most notably) it should also make it much easier for textbook makers to deliver interactive content in their ebooks. Both Ars's sources and people within the digital publishing industry agree that Apple is set to introduce a tool designed to make the process of creating digital content for ebooks as easy as GarageBand makes it to throw together a song on your Mac. While this lowering of the barrier for publishing could have some unintended consequences (I shudder to think that these kinds of tools might mean my ex-girlfriend's Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan fiction might reach a wider audience), the implications for bigger publishers like the major players in the textbook market are disruptive -- and lucrative. If The Wall Street Journal and Ars have it right, Thursday's event looks like a fairly big deal despite the lack of any new hardware. For the past 25 years (at least) we've been promised that technology would eventually revolutionize the classroom entirely, but it's only recently that the tools and means of delivery have existed to supplement or supplant the traditional dead-tree textbook. It sounds like that might be coming to pass at last.
Samsung is refreshing the Series 5 Chromebook, releasing the Chromebox in Q2
We'll likely never know how many Chromebooks Samsung has sold, but we're guessing it's not a terribly impressive figure. No matter. Sammy is refreshing its first-gen Series 5 with a new model, along with that Chromebox Google first teased last spring. Starting with the Chromebook, it trades its slick cover for something muted, with more discreet logo placement, though that matte, 12.1-inch, 300-nit display has made a reappearance. On the inside, meanwhile, it steps up from Atom to Celeron, though it still has 2GB of RAM and 16GB of flash storage. Look for it sometime in the second quarter with some familiar pricing: $399 for the WiFi-only version, and $449 for the 3G model with pay-as-you-go data from Verizon. As for the Chromebox, Samsung is still staying mum on specs, though the company did tell us it comes with a wireless keyboard-and-mouse combo. It also has a handful of ports, including five USB 2.0 sockets, DVI, DisplayPort and a headphone jack. All that'll run you around $400 when it lands sometime in the second quarter. To be honest, it's difficult to imagine consumers choosing this over a Mac mini or HTPC, though Samsung makes a shrewd point when it says this might find a home in K-12 computer labs, where the cost per student would be low and the systems would consume little space. Then again, the same could be said of laptops like this, no? Update: The Chromebox, too, has a dual-core Celeron CPU, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage -- just like the Chromebook. Edgar Alvarez contributed to this report.
Holiday Gift Guide: Mac apps for students
Welcome to TUAW's 2011 Holiday Gift Guide! We're here to help you choose the best gifts this holiday season, and once you've received your gifts we'll tell you what apps and accessories we think are best for your new Apple gear. Stay tuned every weekday from now until the end of the year for our picks and helpful guides and check our Gift Guide hub to see our guides as they become available. For even more holiday fun, check out sister site Engadget's gift guide. It's the middle of the winter break and most students are enjoying a short respite from course work, classrooms and cramming for exams. Students should use some of this free time to clean up their old Mac or setup their new Mac before their hectic school schedule begins again. To help you get organized for the 2012 Spring semester, we've compiled some of the top Mac apps for students. Check out the list below and add your favorites in the comments (all prices are USD). Dropbox (Free) Dropbox is a popular, web-based file hosting service that lets you upload files to a cloud account and share them with other Dropbox users. It's an easy way to store files for yourself or others to view. Besides the Dropbox client which uploads files from your Mac, there are many other apps that use Dropbox for file sharing or file backup. Dropbox gives you 2 GB of storage space for free, but you can purchase additional storage if needed (50 GB for US$9.99 monthly or $99.99 per year; 100 GB for $19.99/month or $199.00/year) Evernote (Free) Evernote is an excellent note-taking app that stores all your notes in the cloud, so you can access them from your iPhone, iPad or desktop. You can create normal text notes, clip portions of web pages and record audio notes. You can also search and modify existing notes. It's available for free and is a must-have for anyone taking notes. iHomework ($2.99) iHomework is an app to help you manage your course workload. It'll keep track of your assignments and set reminders for when they are due. You can also log all your grades, so you know how well you are doing in a class. There's even a section for course information that lets you store the course location, time and the professor's contact information. It's available on the Mac, and it is sold as a universal app for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Garage Tunes ($4.99) Garage Tunes is a lightweight music player that'll scan your hard drive for music files and add them to the app. It also scans the library of other computers on your local network that have Garage Tunes installed. It's an easy way for roommates to share their music over a LAN. WiFi Radar ($9.99) If you're the traveling type who likes to study in the library or at your local coffee shop, you'll need a decent WiFi tool like WiFi Radar to help you find available WiFi networks. WiFi Radar will list all the available wireless networks in your area and provide you information about the SSID, channel, signal strength and password state. Once you connect, the app will graph your network signal and let you monitor the reliability of the connection. Coffee Break ($2.99) Coffee Break is a small utility that resides in the menu bar and reminds you that it's time for a break. You can setup alarms that'll dim the screen and tell you take a break for a set number of minutes. Conventional wisdom says you'll stay more alert during those marathon studying sessions if you take regular breaks. Caffeine (Free) Unlike Coffee Break, Caffeine will help keep your computer going during a marathon study session. The app is a small utility that sits in the menu bar and gives you quick access to some of the options in Energy Saver. You can click it once to stop your Mac from going to sleep, dimming the screen or starting screen savers. Click it again and everything is restored back to normal. It's perfect for those times when you're deep in thought and not actively interacting with your Mac. PDF Expert ($19.99) PDF Expert will let you read, annotate, and search within PDF files on your Mac. The app has all the basic functions you need to highlight, underline or add other annotations to a PDF. You can also add notes and bookmarks. PDF Expert will even read the PDF back to you when you want to listen to the document instead of read it. If you don't need the search functions of PDF Expert and have Mac OS X Lion, you can use the built-in Preview app to annotate your PDF document and add bookmarks. A warning to prevent confusion- PDF Expert for the Mac is not associated with the popular PDF Expert for the iPad made by Readdle. iProcrastinate (Free) iProcrastinate is an easy-to-use task manager that'll help you get things done without delay. The app lets you organize tasks into subjects (basically, a category) and add sub-tasks to a task which is great for projects that require several steps. It'll sync between devices on a LAN and upload your file to Dropbox. If you have an iPhone, there's a companion version of the software that'll let you take your tasks with you on the go. Spotify (Free, service has an optional subscription) Spotify is a music streaming service that debuted in Europe and recently made its way to the US. Spotify, like Rdio, lets you browse its music catalog and choose individual tracks to add to a playlist. It's much different from Pandora which plays random tracks based on an artist or genre that you choose. Spotify is available for free on the desktop and includes advertising to support the free model. You can pay $4.99 monthly for an Unlimited plan which gives you all-you-can-eat streaming without ads or sign up for a $9.99 monthly Premium plan which gives you ad-free unlimited streaming, offline caching and Spotify on your smartphone. iWork ($60) iWork is Apple's suite of productivity apps that'll let you create documents, presentations and graphs. The suite includes a document editor (Pages '09), a spreadsheet application (Numbers '09) and a presentation application (Keynote '09). You can buy the apps individually for $20 each on the Mac App Store. Sparrow Mail ($9.99) Sparrow mail is a lightweight email client for Gmail, MobileMe, Yahoo!, AOL and other IMAP providers. The app has a unified inbox and supports both labels and folders so you can keep your email organized. A recent update added Dropbox functionality, which lets you send large attachments via email. There attachments are automatically pushed to Dropbox and recipients can download the file using a link within the email. If you find OS X's mail client to be clunky and slow, you should check Sparrow. Adium (Free) Staying in touch with friends is important and an easy way to chat while on your computer is through Instant Messaging. One of the best free desktop IM clients is Adium, an open source app available for Max OS X. It'll let you connect to AIM, MSN, Jabber, Yahoo, Facebook and more. The app uses tabs to separate your different conversations and supports Growl notifications so you never miss an incoming message. It also merges your contacts, so you won't have the same person listed three times. Advanced features include OTR encryption, file transfer and many, many customization options that'll let you change the look and feel of the app. iStudiez Pro ($9.99) iStudiez Pro is an all-in-one app that'll help you schedule your courses, keep track of your assignments, and calculate your GPA. It's very similar to iHomework mentioned above, but has a different look that some might prefer. It also has a companion app for the iPhone if you want to take your schedule with you wherever you go. Alfred (Free) Alfred is a productivity app that resides in the menu bar and is available via a quick keyboard shortcut. Alfred will let you launch apps, search the web, search your hard drive, perform calculations and more. It's faster and has more features than Spotlight and will become your favorite Mac assistant. Reference books (Variable pricing) Besides applications, there's a variety of reference material available for the Mac. You can download comprehensive guides like Muscle System Pro II, which details the muscular system of the human body. There's also iElement, which contains everything you need to know about the elements in the Periodic Table, and for Political Science majors, there's an app that'll let you study the US Constitution.
Holiday Gift Guide: iPhone apps for students
Welcome to TUAW's 2011 Holiday Gift Guide! We're here to help you choose the best gifts this holiday season, and once you've received your gifts we'll tell you what apps and accessories we think are best for your new Apple gear. Stay tuned every weekday from now until the end of the year for our picks and helpful guides and check our Gift Guide hub to see our guides as they become available. For even more holiday fun, check out sister site Engadget's gift guide. Lat week, we looked at iPad apps for students and now it's time to look at their iPhone companions. We have a mixture of apps that'll help you play hard and work hard during your days as a co-ed. Those following the Holiday Gift Guide may recognize a few titles from the iPad list as I purposely chose a few universal apps that'll let you share your data across devices. If there are any must-have student apps not on the list, feel free to add them in the comments. Schedule Planner Pro ($5.99) Between classes, recreation and social events, students have a busy lifestyle and need an app like Schedule Planner Pro to help them manage their many appointments. The app has all the basic features you want in a calendar app including categories, recurring tasks, and support for notifications. It links to Google calendar, iOS calendar and Dropbox, so you always have a copy of your schedule backed up somewhere. Like many iOS apps, Schedule Planner Pro also has a gorgeous interface that makes using the app a pleasure. Jetpack Joyride ($0.99) School isn't all work, you need to make time for play and a good way to put some fun in your life is with Jetpack Joyride. Made by the folks who created Fruit Ninja, Jetpack Joyride lets you strap on a jetpack, fly around obstacles and collect coins as you go. It's one of those games you can pick up and play when you have a few free minutes. Pocket Money ($4.99) Pocket Money is an excellent banking that'll help you keep track of your often limited finances. You can setup all your accounts, track expenses by category and generate reports that'll let you see where your money has gone. You can also setup a budget and watch your monthly spending. If you have more than one iOS device, you can easily sync your registers between both devices. University Apps (Free) Most colleges now have their own iPhone app filled with information for incoming students. You can get campus maps, cafeteria hours and even the phone number for the library on your phone. Don't hesitate to search for your school as big schools and even small schools like my alma mater have embraced the iPhone. Fring (Free) Fring is a video chat app for iPhone, Android and Symbian. It supports video chat (up to 4 people), voice calls and text chat. It also works over 3G, 4G and WiFi connections. It's a lot like Skype, but is a bit less serious business-like. Find My Friends (Free) Find My Friends is an Apple-branded app that uses the iPhone GPS to locate your friends and family on a map. You can turn the location tracking on and off, so your parents will see you when you're studying at the library and not at the local pub. It's a simple app, but sometimes those just work the best. Grades 2 (Free; $0.99 to remove ads) Grades 2 is a grade tracking app that'll help you calculate the scores you need to pass a class. The app lets you enter in all of your assignments, your current grades and your target GPA. The app will work its math magic and tell you what you need to score on your remaining assignments if you want to reach that goal. Flashcards* (Free; $2.99 to remove ads) Flashcards* is a flashcard app with sets for almost every subject. The app ties into the Quizlet service which lets you create flashcard sets on the desktop and share them with other devices. You can also send your sets to Dropbox and share them others. It's available on the iPad, so you can share your quizzes between your iOS devices. iThoughts HD ($7.99) iThoughtsHD is a mind mapping application to help you organize your thoughts. It's great for planning large written essays and designing scientific experiments. You can import mind maps from a variety of desktop applications and export your mind map to PDF and PNG files. You can also store your creations in the cloud using Dropbox, Box.net, MobileMe or WebDAV-based services. iThoughts HD is available on the iPad, so you can potentially share your mind maps between your iOS devices. iHomework ($1.99) iHomework is an app to help you manage your course workload. It will keep track of your assignments and set reminders for when they are due. You can also log all your grades, so you can calculate how well you are doing in a class. There's even a section for course information that lets you store the course location, the time and the professor's contact information. iStudiez Pro ($2.99) iStudiez Pro is an all-in-one app that'll help you schedule your courses, keep track of your assignments, and calculate your GPA. It's very similar to iHomework, but has a different look that some might prefer. It also has a slightly higher price tag. TED (Free) The TED app is filled with over 900 TEDTalks from the top minds in technology, education medicine, business and music. If you want to be challenged by the best of the best, then you should download this app and spend some quality time watching the videos or listening to the TEDRadio stream. It supports AirPlay so you can stream the audio or video to your HDTV if you have an Apple TV. Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock ($0.99) Getting a good night's sleep is critical to students who are often sleep-deprived from alternating nights of studying and socializing. Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock is a unique app that'll help keep your sleep cycle in check. You place the iPhone under you pillow, turn on the app and let it monitor your sleep. When it detects that you are out of deep sleep, it will look at your alarm and pick the best time to wake you up. Amazon Student (Free) The Amazon Student app is Amazon Price Checker for students. The app uses the scan feature of the camera to pull up Amazon prices on textbooks, games, movies, and more. If you have a book you no longer use, you can use the app to get its estimated value and decide if its worth trading it in for an Amazon gift card. You also get six months of free two-day shipping when you start using the app. Movies by Flixster (Free) Movies by Flixster is your connection to the best that Hollywood has to offer. You can watch trailers, find local showtimes, and browse movie reviews from Rotten Tomatoes. You can even purchase tickets from your phone and find local restaurants (with Yelp reviews), which is especially helpful if you decide at the last minute to turn a quick movie into a night on the town.
Lenovo ThinkPad X130e delayed until February, early-adopting school districts to blame
We'll be honest: when Lenovo said it would ship the new student-friendly ThinkPad X130e starting on December 20th, we didn't actually program an alert in our calendars, reminding us to place our orders on the very first day it became available. But it looks like at least a few you did just that, and were quite taken with this durable 11.6-inch laptop. As it turns out, though, you'll have to wait a little longer to get yours -- Lenovo's product page is now saying it won't be available for individual purchase until February. Apparently, it's because the X130e's rubber bumper, recessed ports, reinforced hinge and Core i3 / Fusion innards were just too irresistible to educators: a Lenovo rep told us all the early units have been scooped up by hungry school districts, meaning individual students and other fans of inexpensive, ruggedized laptops will have to wait for a later batch.[Thanks, Markus]
Holiday Gift Guide: iPad Apps for Students
Welcome to TUAW's 2011 Holiday Gift Guide! We're here to help you choose the best gifts this holiday season, and once you've received your gifts we'll tell you what apps and accessories we think are best for your new Apple gear. Stay tuned every weekday from now until the end of the year for our picks and helpful guides and check our Gift Guide hub to see our guides as they become available. For even more holiday fun, check out sister site Engadget's gift guide. If there's a student with an iPad on your gift list, you can save yourself the trouble of mall shopping by turning to the iOS App Store for the perfect gift. You can either gift an app directly or give your scholar an iTunes gift card and a list of recommended apps to install. To help you in the app department, we've spent some time finding titles suitable for the high school and college student in your life (all prices are USD). Evernote (Free) Evernote is an excellent note-taking app that stores all your notes in the cloud, so you can access them from your iPhone or desktop. You can create normal text notes and audio notes. You can also search and modify existing notes. It's available for free and is a must-have for anyone taking notes. Safari To Go (Free; Service requires a subscription) Safari Bookshelf is a technical resource that lets gives you access to books and videos about technology and digital media. Computer science students can read books, print portions of books and save books for offline reading. The service requires a monthly fee, but iPad app is free. Documents to Go Premium ($16.99) Documents to Go is a powerful document editor for the iPad. It lets you create and edit Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint documents. You can also view iWork, PDF, and text files. When you are done editing, you can send the files to online storage sites like Google Docs, Dropbox, box.net and SugarSync. iHomework ($1.99) iHomework is an app to help you manage your course workload. It'll keep track of your assignments and set reminders for when they are due. You can also log all your grades so you know how well you are doing in a class. There's even a section for course information that lets you store the course location, time and the professor's contact information. Papers ($14.99) Papers is a research tool that'll let you find and read academic journals. The app will search several public repositories including JSTOR, Pubmed and Google Scholar. You can also import PDF journal articles from journal sources and view them in the app. Once a file is in your library, you can highlight text and add notes. AudioNote - Notepad and Voice Recorder ($4.99) AudioNote is an audio recorder that lets you record a lecture so you can sleep take excellent study notes. The notes are stored and synced with the audio stream so you review a lecture point-by-point. It's an excellent tool for students who want a digital copy of a lecture, so they can review points they may have missed. Genius Scan ($0.99) Genius Scan is a basic scanning app that lets you scan a document to jpg or PDF. The file can be emailed or uploaded to Dropbox, Evernote and Google Docs. It costs 99-cents and brings the functionality of a copier to your iPad. There's also a free version that doesn't support documents uploads and contains ads. Converter for iPad ($0.99) Converter for iPad lets you convert measurements and currency from one unit to another. The app will change length, weight, temperature, speed, data, volume area, and time. It also converts 63 currencies using the daily exchange rate. Teleprompt + ($14.99) Teleprompt + lets you turn your iPad into a teleprompt device, which can be used during your next big presentation. It's a flexible app that can be used alone or with an external projector. You can also record the audio and video of your speech, so you can practice it before the big day. Teleprompt + supports most Bluetooth keyboards, which makes it easy to type in text of a speech. When done, the completed teleprompt documents can be uploaded to Dropbox or Google Docs. Merriam-Webster Dictionary - Premium ($2.99) The Merriam-Webster Dictionary app is a must-have for students who spend a fair amount of time writing essays. It contains definitions, synonyms, antonyms and a thesaurus. The app also has a voice search feature so you find a word without knowing how to spell it. This version is a premium version with additional words and no advertising. A free version with ads is also available. EMD PTE (Free) EMD PTE is a periodic table app for science students. It lists all the elements, their properties and the history of their discovery. All this information is stored locally so you don't need an Internet connection to look up information on Iron or Molybdenum. It's available in multiple languages and includes additional utilities like a molar mass calculator and tv-out support. Graphing Calculator+ ($2.99) Graphing Calculator+ is a graphing, handwriting and scientific calculator for the iPad. It lets you plot up to six equations at a time Keynote ($9.99) Keynote is perfect for creating and editing presentations on the iPad. The iPad app has 12 different themes and 20 slide transitions. There's an animation editor so you can control the movement of items on your slide. You can also store presentations in iCloud and edit them on other devices. If you're a Mac user, it's worth the $10 to grab the mobile version of the Keynote app. iThoughtsHD ($9.99) iThoughtsHD is a mind mapping application to help you organize your thoughts. It's great for planning large written essays and designing scientific experiments. You can import mind maps from a variety of desktop applications and export your mind map to PDF and PNG files. You can also store your creations in the cloud using Dropbox, Box.net, MobileMe or WebDAV-based services. Flashcards* (Free, $2.99 to remove ads) Flashcards* is a flashcard app with sets for almost every subject. The app ties into the Quizlet service which lets you create flashcard sets on the desktop and share them with other devices. You can also send your sets to Dropbox and share them others.
